Loading... Dynamic Duo

Welcome
to the 1,338th
edition
of Loading...
Loading... is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Welcome
to the 1,338th
edition
of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Last month, a super
secret switch was flipped at the ArenaNet HQ in Bellevue, Washington.
The result has been veritable flood of new information on upcoming
title Guild
Wars 2,
the bulk of which has been revealed through
ArenaNet's newly created blog for the game. We'll
take a closer look at some of the finer details from this
week's two stellar updates today in Loading... Dynamic Duo

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse (What
is The Pulse?).

Loading... Daily

This week saw not just one,
but two excellent new updates to the official
ArenaNet blog for Guild
Wars 2.
As a long time fan of all things Guild
Wars,
I found both to be
incredibly interesting not just for their core topical focus, but also
for some of the more subtle details they contain.

First up, an interview with
Kristen Perry titled the
Fashion of Guild
Wars 2 gave us a glimpse into
her processes for coming up with unique
and interesting clothing and armor designs. While ArenaNet has
previously stated that one of their goals with the new game is to allow
it to be played on as many systems as possible, Kristen does describe
some of the ways in which she's been able to expand upon
design potentials in GW2 by use of certain elements such as normal maps.

Perhaps one of the
most significant new tools is the use of normal
maps. For the first time, we can make use of much higher modeling
techniques to add richness to an otherwise modest poly budget. We do
have more polys to throw around as well, but there’s a lot to
be said for the smoke-and-mirror use of a good normal map. I think
perhaps what I love the most, besides normals and the fun of 3D
sculpting, would be the silhouette polys I can now add and the higher
texture resolution that goes with it.

To get a better idea of what
the end results may look like when GW2
launches, be sure to check out Ten Ton Hammer's recently
added gallery featuring
character renders of human females and males.

While it remains to be seen
whether the armor/stat dynamic will be
treated similar to the original game, one of the things I've
always found fascinating is that
Guild Wars
proves that armor
doesn't necessarily have to be a poorly disguised stat grind
to be a desirable item for players to obtain. Yet the fact that players
will still invest the time to obtain elite armor sets in GW speaks
volumes to me about
the strengths of Kristen’s design capabilities. Not only
that, but it does also give weight to the notion that imporoving the
visual aspects of our characters can be a strong motivator in and of
itself.

The second kickass blog update
for this week features Colin
Johanson's answers to many of the questions that have been
circulating on the Dynamic
Events system in GW2. A quick
read trough
the answers Colin has provided reveals other minor, yet interesting
gameplay elements that extend beyond the topical focus of dynamic
events. For example, in the following quotes we learn that Guild
Wars 2
will very likely feature some form of weather system as well as night
and day cycles:

Some events only occur
when specific conditions are met,
like a snow storm rolls into the map, or night falls over the
graveyard. If an event reaches one end of the chain, it could sit at
that point for days, weeks, or months until a player comes along and
decides to participate in the event chain. We’ve tried to
vary the conditions that trigger events and change the length and
variety of the event cycles so that everything feels organic and
unique.

Events are not
designed to occur at specific real world
times; they're triggered by game conditions, player actions,
and in-game time occurrences (like night falling in the game world).
Players from all countries and time-zones in the world will
never feel like they're missing out on content.

While seemingly minor on the
surface, the mechanics mentioned above do
most definitely reinforce the concept that the Tyria of Guild
Wars 2
will have a vastly more “virtual world” feel than
its predecessor.

I thoroughly recommend giving
both the interview with Kristen Perry and
Colin Johanson’s FAQ answers on Dynamic Events a read. Still
no word on whether or not GW2 will feature the
most awesome competitive online mini-game of all time, Rollerbeetle
Racing, but we can certainly hope! While we wait to find out if it
makes the transiion into the sequel, I'd love to hear your thoughts on
either of the above topics, so grab your
favorite fiery dragon sword and head on over to the Loading…
forum. And if, like me, you consider yourself a fan of all things Guild
Wars related,
be sure to stop by Ten
Ton Hammer's Guild Wars 2
forums and join in on the
discussions!

Shayalyn's
Epic Thread of
the Day

Are you waiting for the release of World
of Warcraft's
next expansion, Cataclysm? So are we. Want to see "female
Worgen in chain?"
Sure, everyone does. Want to talk about it? That's why we have a thread
to discuss the latest little sneak preview from Blizzard. Head
on over!

Join
the closed beta test for Forsaken World with a key from Ten Ton Hammer
and be eligible to win an IBUYPOWER Chimera 2 desktop from Perfect
World Entertainment! It's simple to enter: just click on over to the Forsaken
World Closed Beta Key giveaway page,
follow the instructions to get a key, then test Forsaken World in May
and June and you could win a brand new gaming desktop! Either way, you
win with a Forsaken Worlds closed beta test key!

World
of Warcraft: Cataclysm will add two races for WoW fans: the
Worgen
and the Goblin. Today Blizzard has given the community a sneak peek at
the upcoming Worgen with four amazing screens of the model in different
armor typse. Wondering what the Worgen model will look like? Let Ten
Ton Hammer show you in our latest article covering the upcoming WoW
expansion.

If
you weren't lucky enough to score the EverQuest II quest line
introducing New Halas into Norrathian lore from SOE reps in previous
weeks, it is now available to all on the live servers via NPCs. You can
find barbarian representatives in each city that will send you on your
way to learn some truths of Mithaniel Marr, his sister Erollisi, and of
the newest city. Find out where to get the quest and what you need to
do to walk with Marr himself in our "Vision of Valor"
walk through.

We
all end up running with various forms of groups in World of Warcraft
and any time you're grouped with other players there is a chance that
you'll happen upon a real winner.
Some players seem destined to travel
through the game blissfully ignorant of others, basic gameplay
mechanics, and often even their own class and role. When you run into
them inevitably you will hear something that makes you cringe and
wonder why Darwinism doesn’t weed
these people out faster.